Health and Safety Micro reports

The introduction of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) Health and Safety Management System (HSMS) provided the policies, procedures and supporting documentation for the management of safety appropriate to a dynamic and short duration...

The development and delivery of the health and safety induction was a significant component in providing the workforce with an understanding of the vision of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) to provide a...

This report highlights how a contractor reduced the occupational ill-health risk by reviewing and modifying the design of decking on a number of bridges, after recognising that hand-arm vibration and noise exposure may be significant. The short timeframe between the...

Setting out kerb lines or other alignment markers usually involves driving steel pins into the ground. This method of working has the inherent danger of hitting buried services. The ground must be scanned for services and any digging must be...

Reward and recognition was a key feature of the Olympic Delivery Authority’s (ODA’s) construction programme. The ODA Diversity Awards celebrated the excellence of ODA’s contractor’s performance in diversity and created a healthy culture of competition, furthering diversity.

When carrying out multiple small excavations around the perimeter of the Park for the fence posts, the enormous number of buried services, both live and dead, meant that a suction excavator was much safer as it does not cut into...

The third party dig process outlines the steps taken by the electrical distribution network operator; UK Power Networks (UKPN) as both concessionaire and statutory undertaker, to work with all Principal Contractors and Tier Two excavation contractors to avoid damage to...

As part of London’s bid to be the most sustainable games, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) committed to a series of priority theme targets. The planning process was used effectively to drive these commitments into the supply chain through planning...

The use of an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) booklet disseminated at induction alongside similar Health and Safety (H&S) and Environment publications by one London 2012 contractor enabled them to position ED&I messages at the same level of importance as...

Across the construction industry the detachment of the bucket on quick hitches (QHs) is responsible for 13 per cent of all accidents investigated on excavators. Following a near miss on the Olympic Park, a common standard was developed for the...

A set of Visual Standards was developed in consultation with contractors which set out ‘what good looks like’ and ‘what bad looks like’. This helped ensure that similarly high standards of Health, Safety and Environment (HS&E) were implemented across the...

Effective insulation is a fundamental component of any energy efficient and sustainable building. However, more often than not, little thought is given to the environmental impact of the actual insulation material being used. On the Olympic Park, several contractors sourced...

The contractor on the Olympic Park’s Primary Foul Sewer Project trialled a hand arm vibration monitoring system to assist the Site Management team in reducing the risks to employees from hand held vibration tools.

Occupational health services on the Olympic Park were comprised of both clinical and preventative occupational health professionals. There was a team of doctors and nurses on site for clinical medicine along with occupational hygienists who focused on preventative strategies.

Design changes to works can often create significant differences in the risk of exposure to occupational health issues. In the Basketball Arena, operatives had to carry out more welding than was expected.

On a heavily contaminated land site such as the Olympic Park there was always a distinct possibility that asbestos would be present in the soil as debris from former works on site, as well as former building materials. This report...

Gabion retaining walls have been used extensively across the Olympic Park on bridge abutments. During installation the thick galvanised wire forming the gabion baskets were cut to shape leaving exposed sharp ends of wires. These ends were temporarily capped with...

Lessons learned following a fatality on a non-London 2012 project involving a mobile elevated working platform (MEWP) resulted in an emergency drill being carried out on the Olympic Park. It was found that not enough of the workforce knew how...

Manual handling injuries are one of the most common causes of accidents in the construction industry. However, these injuries were virtually eradicated on the Lot 1 bridges contract through a series of measures implemented by the Tier One contractor.

Determining the extent of exposure to hazardous substances is often very difficult. It is necessary to ensure the correct control measures are used to protect workers. An Athletes’ Village contractor developed a strategic approach to identify potential risk of exposure...

The principle of Health and Safety risk profiling has contributed to the positive safety culture on the London 2012 Programme, and promoted careful planning and safe delivery. Some project teams took the concept of risk profiling and adopted it for...

Slips, trips and falls are one of the industry’s main causes of reportable three-day accidents. The concrete contractor at the Aquatics Centre, developed an innovative approach to reducing trips during construction of steel reinforced concrete slabs through the use of...

Historically, risers have posed significant health and safety risks during both the construction and operation of a building. A system was developed to ensure that risers are protected at the formation stage and, through this innovative solution, the risk of...

Selecting the safest materials for a task often requires more specific knowledge of hazardous substances than anticipated. By providing training on the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH), the principal contractor working on the International Broadcast Centre/Main Press Centre...